Auditioning Wed 29th October — 7.30pm
at the Swan Studio, Worcester

Showing 25th — 28th February 2009
at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich

Note the performance venue!  Maria Marten will be performed at the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich, because the Swan Theatre will be closed for repairs.  Rehearsals will be in Worcester as usual on dates  and venus to be arranged when the play is cast. These will commence in November with a short break for Christmas.

This version will be presented as if by a band of strolling players with a minimum of staging and furniture.  It is a fun show: a melodrama with music!

Cast: 5 female, 3 male (all ages are flexible)
Plus ENSEMBLE: 6 female, 2 male.

Maria Marten (18-30, a village girl, 3 solos + chorus)
William Corder (the Squire’s son, a villain, 30 - 40, 3 solos)
Thomas Marten (an honest rustic in the vale of years, 1 duet)
Mrs Marten (his wife, also old, 1  duet)
Tim Bobbin (a simple rustic  comedy role, 20-30, 1 solo, 2 duets)
Anne Marten (Tim’s girlfriend, 20-30, 2 duets)
Nell Hatfiled (a gypsy lady, middle age, no songs)
Meg Bobbim (Tim’s sister, 20s, Choruses only)

The members of the ensemble will be active throughout the show  as chorus, playing minor roles (gypsies,  country folk, an officer of the law, a housemaid  etc, re-setting the simple furniture - even playing a small drum etc for sound effects!)

Backstage crew may also be required.

IF YOU ARE  INTERESTED BUT UNABLE TO ATTEND THE AUDITION PLEASE CONTACT BRIAN on 01527 821 564.

Links:

• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts and CDs of the music for the simple songs can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

Auditioning Sun 8th June — 6.30pm
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Showing Tue 18th — Sat 22nd November 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Evening weekday rehearsals to be arranged, plus some Sunday afternoons

Cast: 5 female, 3 male

• Vickie (26, pretty, know her own mind, determined)
• Paul (late twenties, in love with Vickie and impatient to announce their engagement. Would be good looking if he bothered to shed his slobbish image)
• Eddie (fifties, suave, a ‘Leslie Philips’ type.  Charming, agreeable. Should be on the slim side and clean shaven so as to look convincing in drag)
• Kate (mid-fifties, the bride, Vickie’s mother. Madly in love with George and apprehensive about the wedding. Smart and (mostly) self-controlled, but going to pieces in the lead up to the ceremony
• Alison (Kate’s new age friend and next door neighbour. Paul’s mother. Rather fey and a firm believer in stars and auras. Feet firmly off the ground. Always knows best.
• George (late fifties, the bridegroom. Very pukka with a stiff upper lip. Ex Foreign Office and inclined to be pompous. Has gone over board for Kate and is increasingly confused by the sequence of events)
• Betty (late fifties, old friend of Kate’s. Has been hired to do the catering and is in a frenzy to ensure it goes to plan. Feet firmly on the ground.
• Melanie (mid-twenties, friend of Vickie’s and there to help. Tries to provide an anchor when everyone else goes over the top)

All the cast need to be athletic as there is a good deal of running about, jumping over sofas, etc.

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

Auditioning Wed 4th June 2008 — 2.30pm
and Sun 8th June — 3.30pm
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Showing Tue 7th — Sat 11th October 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Rehearsals Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Sunday afternoons July–October with a break in August for 2 or 3 weeks

Cast: 5 male, 4 female

• John Worthing (25-30, likes to appear responsible, falls for Gwendolen)
• Algernon Montcrieff (20-35, bit of a society parasite, somewhat irresponsible, falls for Cecily)
• Lady Bracknell (50+, austere, pompous, snooty, very society conscious)
• Gwendolen Fairfax (flighty, romantic young lady)
• Cecily Cardew (flightier and more romantic young lady)
• Canon Chasuble (middle to older aged vicar-type, bit of an eye for Miss Prism)
• Miss Prism (middle-aged governess to Cecily, prim and proper)
• Merriman (butler to Algernon)
• Lane (manservant at John Worthing’s country manor)

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• SparkNotes plot overview of The Importance of Being Earnest
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

And you can always see the latest or upcoming auditions at www.stac-worcester.com/blog/category/auditions.

Auditioning Sun 16th March 2008 — 2.30pm
at the Swan Theatre Studio, Worcester

Showing Tue 19th — Sat 23rd August 2008
at the Swan Theatre Studio, Worcester

Cast: 4 female, 2 male

• Vi (female, 40+yrs, sexy, immaculately made up. Good ‘mover’. Mother to 3 daughters. Recently died aged 78, her appearance is in memory)
• Teresa (female, 45, eldest daughter of Vi, married to Frank)
• Mary (female, 39, middle sister, Doctor, unmarried. Mistress to Mike, married with 3 children)
• Catherine (female, 33, youngest daughter of Vi, single and extrovert)
• Frank (male, 45-50, married to Teresa. Overworked. Easy going. Henpecked and undervalued)
• Mike (male, 40 - 45ish, TV Celebrity Doctor. Anxious to maintain the status quo)

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• A detailed review of the play by contemporarywriters.com
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

Auditioning Sun 2nd March 2008 — 2.00pm
at the Swan Theatre (SAMA room), Worcester

Showing Tue 24th — Sat 28th June 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

• Felix Humble (male, mid-30s, “Hamlet for the 21st century”, a man-child with a stutter)
• Flora Humble (female, early 50s, “looks young for her age”, Felix’s newly-widowed mother, former Playboy bunny)
• Mercy Lott (female, 50s, kind-hearted but somewhat ineffectual woman, a “spinster”)
• Jim (male, 60s, “thoughtful and quiet, absent-minded, gentle sense of humour”, a thin, small man)
• George Pye (male, 60s, “a beefy, well-built man of about sixty”, a self-made man, charismatic)
• Rosie Pye (female, 30s, “does not pay much attention to her appearance”, plain but radiates an aura of good health and emotional maturity)

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• Extracts from multiple reviews of Humble Boy
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

• A scientist, age 50ish, male, grey
• A news Reporter aged 20’s-30’s, male or female

If you want more information or to organise an audition/film session, please make contact through the website and we’ll forward on your details. To be filmed during the next two weeks.

Auditioning Tue 13th November 2007 — 7.30pm
at the Swan Theatre (SAMA room), Worcester

Showing Tue 29th April — Sat 3rd May 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

The audition pieces will be page 20-22 of the Faber edition (Scene 4, The Student and the Married Woman) and 43-46 (Scene 6, The Married Woman and the Politician).

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

• Female: various characters of varying ages from early adulthood to late middle-age; The Girl, The Au Pair, The Married Woman, The Model, The Actress
• Male: various characters of varying ages from early adulthood to late middle-age; The Cab Driver, The Student, The Politician, The Playwright, The Aristocrat

Please note: Extensive nude work is required and simulated sex acts are performed by both actors.

Backstage crew will also be required.

The play: The Blue Room is a loose interpretation of a play called La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler (which itself was originally called Reigen) written in 1900. La Ronde was not premiered until 1921 in Vienna, when it was immediately closed down by the police. It also opened in Berlin in the same year, and was also closed, this time resulting in the trial of the 6 actors on obscenity charges. It was made into a film in 1950, and has become something of a cult classic.

David Hare has brought the play more or less up-to-date, and has written it for a cast of two (1 male and 1 female). There are ten scenes, and each actor plays the same character twice before changing to be someone else. The play is a bleak commentary on loveless sex, and a fairly depressing reflection on human nature at its most basic level.

Notes from the director:

I am intending to use live music (jazz trio) and a set of projected photos to represent the various placing of the scenes. It will be a real test for the cast, who have a series of rapid costume changes as well as some extensive changes of character with ages ranging from 18 – 50 for both sexes.

In addition, they will be required to do extensive nude work, both frontal and rear (although not at the audition!) and some scenes of simulated sex acts. There is strong language in the play.

Please ring me for a chat if you are thinking of auditioning, on 01905 727971 (day) or 07831 588780 (anytime).

Links:

• The Blue Room on Wikipedia
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

Auditioning Fri 9th November 2007 — 7.30pm
at the Swan Theatre (SAMA room), Worcester
and
Sun 11th November 2007 — 5pm
at the Swan Theatre (Sama Room), Worcester

Showing Wed 12th — Sat 15th March 2008
at the Swan Theatre Studio, Worcester

Rehearsing twice weekly (at least) from 1st week of January 2008, with some preparatory workshops in December.

Cast (2 female, 2 male):

• Alice: “a girl from the town”; very early 20’s, boyish, vulnerable, surviving as an erotic dancer
• Dan: “a man from the suburbs”; mid 30’s, an obiturist and aspiring novelist; jaded, but still in need of some ideal of love
• Larry: “a man from the city”; 30-40 plus, a dermatologist; sheltered in some ways, but with a clinical understanding of (some of) life’s realities
• Anna: “a woman from the country”; late 20′ - early 30’s; divorced, a professional photographer, wounded and looking for shelter

Backstage crew will also be required.

Synopsis: A play of love, found, lost, thrown away. Twelve scenes chronicle the love affairs, rivalries, seductions and betrayals of four characters (two men, two women), in a spare, intense style, sometimes coarse, sometimes obscene, but calling for real sensitivity and vulnerability in the acting. Contains very strong language and sexual references.

Contact Math Jones on 07772 805777 for further information, or if you wish to audition but cannot make the above dates.

Links:

• Closer on Wikipedia (and the 2004 film)
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any other queries

Auditioning Sun 2nd September 2007 — 2pm
at the Swan Theatre Studio, Worcester
and
Fri 7th September 2007 — 7.30pm
at the Swan Theatre (Sama Room), Worcester

Showing Thu 14th — Sat 23rd February 2008
at the Swan Theatre, Worcester

Cast (3 female, 2 male):

• Amanda Prynne (30s to 40s, 1930s accepted “cut glass” accent, one simple song)
• Victor Prynne (30s to 40s, a stiff upper-lip “bore”)
• Sybil Chase (30s, vapid, doll-like trophy wife)
• Elyot Chase (30s to 40s, rather clipped 1930s accent, one duet)
• Louise (any age, a maid in Act 3 only, French speaking)

Backstage crew will also be required.

Links:

• Dedicated page for more information and future updates
• See Who are STAC? for company information and a map to the theatre
• Google map of Bygones Antique shop, Worcester from where scripts can be borrowed
• Please make contact via the STAC website if you have any queries